Upon closer reading of the article I do agree valuing those securities accurately is indeed difficult, as I was saying earlier. They are worth something and the market is currently valuing them at next to nothing since they are illiquid due to panic.

At the same token I am sure the bankers want to overvalue them since that is certainly in their interest to do so. And that is a big fear among many bailout detractors. They fear the government will overpay for them in their eagerness to make this crisis go away. Also, many people want to keep housing prices from falling further. As painful as that is, that needs to happen. Housing prices only got as high as they did because of four years of a free money giveaway.

Housing prices need to fall to a level where people can afford them with the wages they earn and they need to be financed in a way that requires a chunk of money from the buyers out of pocket. That is why I keep arriving at 2003 values—values that existed before all the lending shenanigans began.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.